For years, the bumper-sticker slogan of the environmental movement has been: "Think globally, act locally."
As 2011 dawns, the global perspective is increasingly lost in immediate concerns about the economy while local action seems stronger than ever.
Local issues including clean water and air, recycling and transit have become givens for generations of Canadians who came of age after activism went mainstream in the 1960s and '70s. In Canadian cities, no one puts up with visible polluters any more. Recycling is taken for granted, cloth shopping bags have elbowed aside plastic and bike clothes are the new chic in some circles.
But the momentum for action on climate change, the primary focus of international environmental action for the past 15 years, has stalled.
In the recent midterm elections in the United States, the environment was rarely on the radar. The issues were the economy, jobs, health care and security. One of the big losers was any prospect that the U.S. would be going ahead with a cap and trade system for controlling greenhouse gas emissions.
The legislation that would have instituted cap and trade was already stalled before the midterm elections over concerns that it could kill jobs and the incoming Republican tide will likely wash away any vestiges of enthusiasm for further action.
More than half of the incoming Republican legislators, who are changing the balance of power in Washington, are on the record as being skeptical about climate change science.
The Conservative government in Ottawa is taking its cues on the issue from Washington. Ministers argue that we'd be risking Canadian jobs if we take action to reduce emissions that makes us less competitive with the U.S.
The waning interest in concrete action on climate change isn't found only in North America.
The lack of progress in the latest round of UN-sponsored climate change negotiations in Cancun reflected the general lack of interest in the issue among nations that are struggling through the continuing economic slowdown.
In British Columbia, Premier Gordon Campbell has made the fight against climate change a centrepiece of his regime, often to the discomfort of many in his caucus and his supporters in the business community.
With Campbell's departure early in the new year, it's not clear whether the Liberal government will be as enthusiastic about pushing forward with initiatives that can be construed as adding costs to operating a business in B.C. Some of the candidates for his job have already called for a pause on both cap and trade and further increases in the carbon tax.
What will continue is the progress being made through the pursuit of energy efficiency, driven by U.S. concerns over strategic concerns as well as fear of sharply rising energy costs.
Over the past two decades, significant gains have been made by automakers in improving the efficiency of the vehicles they manufacture.
Plug-in electric cars, which could have a significant advantage in British Columbia -- where most of our electricity is generated from water power -- are expected to be players for the next few years, but even small advances in the fuel efficiency of more conventional vehicles translate into millions of litres saved and carbon dioxide that won't be released in to the atmosphere.
The new mood in Washington is expected to take some of the heat off the Alberta oilsands, which remain the single most visible environmental issue in Canada. The oilsands, called tarsands by their opponents, are the target of multiple campaigns by the well-funded and organized international environment movement. But they also have powerful proponents among Americans who view the oilsands as a friendly source in a world where much of the available energy is controlled by more hostile regimes.
The energy battleground in British Columbia will be the $5.5-billion Enbridge Northern Gateway Project, which calls for a pair of pipelines from Alberta to the deepwater port of Kitimat.
Environmentalists and many first nations oppose the project on several grounds: the potential of a breach in the pipeline, the risk of a tanker accident and general opposition to anything connected to the oilsands.
Our need for energy will also be at the centre of what will be a continuing battle over the proposed Site C dam on Peace River, as well as controversial run-of-river hydro projects.
The fight over fish farms will also continue to fester, with part of the focus on the Cohen Commission, which is looking into what was supposed to be the collapse of the sockeye stocks before the massive run this fall raised even more questions about what is really going on.
Source: http://communities.canada.com
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